Organic Housekeeping

My aunt sent me a book about a year ago called, "Organic Housekeeping." When I first got it, I thought... What do I need to know about cleaning, I've been doing it for my whole life just fine? But she kept encouraging me to read it, not to mention it's beautiful cover in my favorite color! Long link alert: http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Housekeeping-Non-Toxic-Avenger-Improve/dp/0743256204/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236453879&sr=8-2

Anyway, I took her advise and read it. It was actually quite enlightening and I enjoyed the book so much I read it cover to cover instead of skimming it like I had originally planned. I had been wanting to switch from the traditional chemical cleaners like 409, comet, and scrubbing bubbles to something a more natural because of health issues, but I didn't think there was anything out there that would actually "work".

However, I have the new wonder cleaner and you won't believe what it is... Vinegar! Yes, regular old vinegar. It really works and you can use it on nearly anything (my husband jokes that I use it like the crazy dad in My Big Fat Greek Weeding uses Windex). You can use it to clean fruit, counters, windows, plastic, stainless steel, bathrooms... pretty much whatever and it's totally safe. I used to catch Matthew sucking on the sprayers of cleaners when I would put the can on the floor (because it smelled good), but now, no way sistah... He took one sip of that vinegar and nope, never tried that again! You should have seen the look on his face, poor kid.

It costs under $2 a gallon. Put it in a pretty spray bottle and Voila, refillable cleaner for a year. I put straight vinegar in it, but the smell is quite pungent so beware. Could be a bonus if your sinuses need clearing :).

Results, you ask? My health, still the same, but less allergies. More money in my pocket book-check! An added benefit that I wasn't expecting was the help with the girls excema. Nothing, I mean nothing could make that nasty bane of my existence go away. We tried everything from steroid creams to pills to lotions... (sorry kids!), then we just gave up for a while. Vinegar+Excema=GONE! Please note: I did not put vinegar on the excema, just used it instead of other cleaning products... got it?!

Another big thing that helped with the rashes was switching to "All Free & Clear" detergent and dryer sheets. Another good thing is fragrance free shampoo, soap, and lotion. In fact, everything in our house is fragrance free, not to be confused with unscented which you can look on the ingredients and sometimes see "fragrance" on the back. It does make a big difference.

Anyway, give vinegar a try, you might turn into the crazy dad too!